Fireplace screen



E. A. HAlN ES FIREPLACE SCREEN May 18, 1937.

Filed June 24, 1936 ,lllll EwwMm VWWWWWWWMN%\ will M'NTU E. A. HA\NE-'b E rraa/vza Patented May 18, 1937 UNITED STATES:

ATE-T FFICE 6 Claims.

This invention relates generally to heat appliances, and particularly to a screen for fireplaces.

The main object of this invention is the provision of an exceedingly simple and efficient form of fireplace screen which will be light in weight, easy to install and .at the same time provide an effective guard against the escape of sparks from the fireplace into the room.

The second object is to construct a fireplace screen which will have the appearance of drapes and in which either or both sides of the fireplace may be shielded or left open as desired.

The third object is to construct a fireplace screen which is not cumbersome and which will be in no danger of falling into the room and which will require no storage space when not in use.

The fourth object is to so construct the screen that the folds in the drapes will appear uniformly along the width thereof.

I accomplish these and other objects in the manner set forth in the following specification as illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the fireplace showing the device installed and the drapes in position along one half of the fireplace.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan of a portion of the screen.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of one of the hangers.

Fig. 4 is a section taken .along the line 4-4 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a section taken along the line 5-5 in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary horizontal section taken along the line 66 in Fig. 1.

Similar numbers of reference refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

Referring in detail to the drawing, there is shown a common form of fireplace l whose arch I I is supported by an angle bar I 2 upon the side walls [3. The position of a hearth l4, andirons l and logs I5 is also indicated.

Referring particularly to my device, the same will be seen to consist of a horizontal rail ll, whose ends l8 are curved toward the fireplace l0 and attached to the shanks l9 by means of the cotter pins 20. The shanks l9 are formed on the brackets 2| which are attached near opposite ends of the angle bar l2 by means of the screws 22. The shape of the brackets 2| is dependent largely upon the shape of the fireplace arch and the height it is desired to hold the rail ll above the top of the fireplace opening.

Obviously, any other form of support for the rail Il may be used without departing from the spirit of this invention.

The screen itself consists of a wire fabric 23 which is capable of being folded along the joints 5 24. However, since it is desired to have the device present the appearance of a drape, groups of portions of the fabric 23 are supported from the hangers 25, each of which consists of the central loops 26, the ends of which intersect on 10 the underside of the rail I7 and the opposite tips I of the hangers 25 are provided with the loop 21 at one end and the loop 28 at the outer end thereof. It is desired to have the loops 21 and 28 occupy planes which are normal to each other in order that the loop 2! of one hanger 25 may be hinged to the loop 28 of the next hanger 25. The loops 2'! which are in a horizontal plane are preferably on the inner side of the rail I1 and are joined by means of the chain 2'9 in a manner that when the chain sections 29 are stretched to their full length, the hangers will assume the position shown in Fig. 2. It is also desirable to have the end sections 30 of one half of the screen angled in the same direction as is the 25 end section 3| in the other Section of the screen i in order to provide a complete seal at the middle or dividing line of the screen.

It will be seen in Fig. 5 that the fabric 23 is formed not of helical wire, but of units having 30 elliptical cross section. It is also desirable to provide the sections 30 and 3|, as well as the sections 32 which are nearest the fireplace, with end rods 33 and weights 34 at the lower ends thereof. It is also desirable to provide the rail 35 H with the buttons 35 over which the adjacent loops 26 of the two sets of drapes 36 and 31 may be latched, as shown in Fig. 2. An anchor loop 38 is secured to each end of the rail ll adjacent to the fireplace ID to which is attached the chain 29 and its corresponding loop 21.

The operation of the device is as follows:

Assuming that the screen is placed in the position shown in Fig. 2, that is covering'the fireplace opening, and it is desired to remove the 5 screen for any purpose whatsoever, it is only necessary to lift the endmost loops 26 over the buttons 35 and to slide the drapes 36 and 31 apart as far as desired; the closing movement being merely the reverse of the one just de- 5 scribed.

I am, of course, aware that numerous forms of fireplace screens have been constructed in the past, and therefore I do not intend to cover such devices broadly, but I do intend to cover all such 5 forms and modifications thereof that fall fairly within the appended claims:

I claim:

1. A fireplace screen consisting of a rail adapted to be mounted in front of the upper side of a fireplace opening, a wire fabric drape disposed beneath said rail and a plurality of hangers slidably and pivotally suspended from said rail, the ends of said hangers being hinged together, said Wire fabric being secured to said hangers at the points of hinging in a manner that it will be held straight between the ends of each hanger and permitted to fold under the hinged connections between each pair of hangers.

2. The screen described in claim 1 characterized by having a chain secured to said hangers in a manner to limit the movement thereof in an extending direction.

3. The screen described in claim 1 in which the wire fabric portion is divided int-o two sections and in which the adjacent hangers which support the division of the screen overlap in parallelism when the screen is fully closed.

4. The fireplace screen described in claim 1,

characterized by having .a wire margin formed along each of the vertical edges of the wire fabric section.

5. The fireplace screen described in claim 1, characterized by having a weight disposed at the bottom of the outermost'folds of the wire fabric section.

6. A fireplace screen consisting of a horizontal tubular rail having means for supporting same near the top of a fireplace opening, a. plurality of hangers slidably supported by said rail, each of said hangers having aloop at the middle thereof through which said rail freely passes in a manner to permit said hanger to swing in a horizontal plane, the various hangers .being hinged together end on end, a wire fabric supported by all of said hangers at the points of hinging, said cloth being foldable in a horizontal direction under the joints of the hangers in a manner to cause the fabric to hang in drape fashion and a chain attached to the joints of said hangers adapted to limit the operation thereof.

ERNEST A. HAINES. 

